JUBILANT pensioners are celebrating after a company made a Christmas donation of £15,000 to take the Chronicle's Surviving Winter Appeal total past £25,000.
Every penny raised by the appeal, organised by the Essex Community Foundation, goes towards hard-up pensioners struggling to heat their homes because of rising bills, and the charities that support them.
Tuesday's £15,000 donation from A Better Future – and more than £10,000 of donations from generous Chronicle readers – means more pensioners, like these celebrating Christmas at the Age Concern Day Centre in Chelmsford, will be kept warm and fed during the winter months.
Regular visitor Renee Gathercole, 89, said: "I started coming to the club when my husband Leslie died. When you live on your own you need somewhere to come and socialise with people and it's ever so friendly here."
Manager Freda Mountain said: "The money we receive from the Surviving Winter Appeal is invaluable to us as we do not get any government funding.
"It means we do not have to worry about heating bills."
A Better Future is a charity established by Central Essex Community Services, which provides NHS services to more than 370,000 people locally.
Financial director Philip Richards said: "We are delighted to support the appeal, which we believe will make a real difference to vulnerable and elderly people in Essex during the winter months.
"This should not be a time when they have to decide whether to heat or eat."
